The Capital (by Karen)

Rone outside 'The Capitol'

There are 2 ways to rate a city ... by what there is to do there and by what it feels like to be there. Washington DC certainly had lots to see, but besides that I found it to be, bluntly put, rather boring. There just wasn't any vibe there. Maybe having just spent 6 days in New York I had been exposed to the incredible life and vibrancy of that city, so that no matter where I went from there it would appear dull in comparison.

We spent a day doing all the main tourist activities, and don't be mislead by seemingly short distances between them on the map. We must have clocked at least 10km that day walking to the numerous spots.  The day started off with a bit rain and chill in the air, so I decided that jeans would be prudent.  Well, it's a miracle I'm still alive to regret it!  It was sooooo humid and hot, I was sweating like there was no limit of fluid inside me.  The only way we survived was by nipping into a Starbucks or McDonalds every 20 minutes or so to cool off in the air-con :)

The World War II memorial

A good summary of the city would be: spotless and impeccable. Everything was 'just so', with the buildings all looking like they were brand new, perfectly positioned with immaculate gardens.  The shops were upmarket, the people were well dressed, and everything felt a bit too fashioned for me.

Lincoln Memorial - our favourite

The memorials were really interesting, our favourite being the Lincoln memorial, due to the stirring history behind the man and the intensity of the statue. We of course walked past the White House (which we actually didn't recognize since it was so much smaller than it looks in the movies!) and we went up to the Capitol, which is where all the real government and political stuff happens.

We ventured into the Natural History museum but it was pretty much same-same, so instead used our limited museum-capacity in the National Museum of American History, which was really worth it. Some fascinating info about past America - what they have invented, how they industrialized, slavery in America, the history of the presidents, and tons of other stuff.

Einstein meets Newton

After one jam packed walk-non-stop day we actually managed to tick off all the main things that we wanted to see. We could have possibly spent another day mosing around to see some other parts of the city, but unfortunately our monster day of walking caused a flare up of a previous injury in Rone's foot, so we chilled at home and watched Wimbledon tennis instead :)

Bestest friends - Kazza & Colleen

We spent a week in Virginia with my bestest friend from South Africa, Colleen, and her hubby and 9 month baby. They spoilt us rotten, taking us to 'Famous Daves' for real American BBQ ribs (for Rone of course) and 'Five Guys Burgers' for what looked to be the best burger I've seen in a long while (I didn't have since I'm vegaquarian :)


 

Little Sophia.  And no, she's not our baby! :)

4th of July party

We finished off our Virginia experience going to an bona fide '4th of July' house party, complete with red, white and blue cupcakes, BBQ and fireworks :)  It was a great experience and we got to meet quite a few American couples and families, which gave us a chance to chat to them and get a feel for life in America.  

Fireworks on 4th July